Resolved: Barack Obama has failed as President of the United States

Okay, so actually that resolution failed, but that was what we discussed tonight at MPU!

Barack's happy with the Union's decision.

Teeners didn't come this time because she was busy watching the Tigers play in Detroit. At least they won, so we'll excuse her. Girlfriend didn't dress up because the mono makes her feel yuck and Zacky was late because people didn't leave the store quickly. Also, Brian didn't come so there was only one strong conservative voice.

BUT, that doesn't mean that people didn't argue that Obama is a failure. People called him a failure because of his lack of leadership with the debt ceiling. People called him a failure for his hypocritical foreign policy stances (e.g. Libya).  People called him a failure for not closing Guantanamo. People called him a failure for not living up to his election promises.

Barack wishes he'd been there to defend himself. But, not everyone gets invited to the Michigan Political Union

The argument that his term isn't over was important as well.  Maybe history will view him as a successful president--who knows? How do you define failure? By approval rating? By action? Through cost-benefit analysis? Also, many people took into consideration the hostile environment he's faced with the 112th Congress. I'm inclined to pin some of the blame on Congress myself, but I guess it doesn't fully absolve him of responsibility either. I hope he wows us in his last year.

The Union did end up deciding that Barack Obama is NOT a failure of a president, but it was a pretty close vote. The meetings are getting pretty big and that's exciting! 30ish people there tonight!

Then we came home and I made (sort of) messed up rice for me and Zacky. Then we snacked on banana bread I made this afternoon, pumpkin squares from Senora Glinksi and apply pie! Tomorrow I'm making enchiladas! Don't you wish you lived in CART house?

CRT goes to MPU

Last night we, Christine, Rachael and Taylor, went to MPU, otherwise known as the Michigan Political Union, to discuss the constitutionality of affirmative action and Michigan's decision to ban it via Proposition 2.

That's a very small picture of MPU's coat of arms.

MPU is a fun roommate+Zacky activity we like to do every other Monday. We enjoy it even though Zacky's the only one of us who does the talking. I do the secretary-ing and Taylor and Christine do the sitting and listening.

 This is what Zacky looked like when he first started MPU, back when he had fun hairs.

This week was especially interesting because of the subject matter. The resolution itself seemed a little complicated because it dealt with the Supreme Court and its jurisdiction over decisions made by Michigan voters, but most people talked about the merits (or absurdity) of affirmative action so that was easily understood by everyone.

I liked it because I didn't really know how I felt about affirmative action. I have now concluded that I am for it, but probably not the system that was being used. I think that's how Teeners and Girlfriend feel too, but I can't say for sure.

Brian, however, did not feel this way at all and, more importantly, was not afraid to share it. He thinks that your ACT score and GPA should be the only factors taken into consideration during the college admissions process. (Personally I think that's putting a lot of weight on a single test you take when you're 16, but I guess that is the supposed function of a standardized test. Whether or not it's functional is a-whole-nother issue.) That's reasonable, but also not so much a solution to the problem of discrimination against minorities either.

Some people argued that the decision to allow affirmative action should be left to the state being affected (in this case: Michigan) and that the Supreme Court is NOT the deciding institutional. To me, that's a little scary because minorities, racial or otherwise, could be forever disenfranchised as long as the majority is not required to obey any kind of higher power.

But anyway, this was supposed to be a fun blog, not a political one so I'll stop talking about that. MPU was also fun because we got to wear nice clothes, but not for too long that we got uncomfortable. Roommates clean up well. Also there were new people at MPU so we got to see/hear new voices.

Tonight I'm making dinner for the first time in the house. I didn't last week thanks to SBE and its ruining of my week, so I hope the CAT part of the house appreciates my cooking. Or at least doesn't hate it. I'd settle for that.